Powell River’s Diving Pleasures

One of my first dive trips to Powell River was over nine years ago when I was introducing Tallen, my youngest daughter, to scuba diving. She was actually finishing up with her certification dives in Mermaid Cove, located on the upper (northern) part of the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, Canada. We had joined a dive club out of Washington State who were camping and enjoying Powell River’s great shore diving opportunities.

At that time Tallen was maybe 13 years old and becoming an expert in remora techniques! The nine-foot tall mermaid statue made of bronze, sculpted by Simon Morris, was clean and not covered in barnacles, as she is today. Her front parts were quite shinny from rubs of good luck and we even saw an octopus at her base, which my remora buddy intensely watched from above and behind me. Not far from the statue in deeper water was a small wall full of huge gray boot sponges with colorful crimson anemones and orange stalked tunicates. The wall is pretty much the same today as it was them, but with a variety of anemones now speckling the scene. Not far from the statue is also a small boat Tallen really enjoyed. Her curiosity caused her to brave the lure of marine life, moving closer to investigate nudibranchs, burrowing sea cucumbers, gunnels, shrimp and all kinds of decorator crabs!

Over the years Tallen has thankfully relaxed her remora routine allowing me the use of my arms when we dive together. The accumulated dives and several return visits to Mermaid Cove has left Tallen with a confidence in her skills and a respect for the wide assortment of critters found in this area.“Mermaid Cove is one of easiest dives on the coast, Mom,” explains Tallen, now a young lady of 22. “I still like checking out the mermaid, but l
ike it even more when I find a wolf eel or a giant lingcod hanging around that little boat wreck!”

Mermaid Cove is also a great place to camp, especially with a group of dive friends because many of the campsites are close enough to socialize with potluck meals and campfire stories. For us, it was who had the best underwater animal encounter or the scariest story to tell!

Betty Pratt-Johnson lists three great shore dives and seven boat dives in her recently revised book, 151 Dives. Throughout the years Tallen and I have explored many of these sites and also a few from dive kayaks and a few additional shore dives, including the wooden boats sunk in Powell Lake! It seems each site was a bit different.

Visiting divers can also contact Alpha Dive and Kayak, a dive store located in Powell River, for advice on where to explore, air and Nitrox fills, rentals, repairs, equipment sales and boat diving charters. The store is operated by Kathy and Scott Friesen, who took over the business in 2006. They have recently added kayaks for rent and sale and can assist in arranging packages with lodging.

“My most memorable dive in the area took place at Octopus City at Saltery Bay Provincial Park.” recalls Scott, a veteran diver for over 23 years. “We completed the dive and were swimming back on a compass bearing. In approximately 30 feet of water I saw what I though initially was a dogfish in the distance. As we got closer, I noticed that it wasn’t a dogfish. We got to within 15 feet and I began noting all the features. This

creature was approx. 5-6 feet in length and had very distinctive features. It watched us for about a minute and a half then swam away very slowly. We knew this was a shark encounter, but didn’t know what kind until I returned to the shop and looked it up in a book about Sharks of the Pacific Northwest. It turned out to be a blue shark. What a special dive! I had an encounter a year before that at Ball Point with a salmon shark.”

The dive charters are handled and arranged through Alpha Dive and Kayak with a flexible range of sites to choose from. The boat has an onboard compressor and they can accommodate six technical divers or 8 recreational. During the summer months the store is open seven days per week.
“We have had a really busy summer,” adds Scott, “We certified many new students and our Scuba Ranger camps have been popular with kids 8-12 years old. We ran a total of four one-week camps for kids, which will continue into the fall. We’ve also expanded our equipment lines and now offer Faber steel cylinders, and Seal Line dry-bags. This season we added a sea kayak certification through Paddle Canada, a nationally recognized program to develop a paddler’s skill set.”

One of my favorite boat dives in the area was actually made by departing on a dive charter boat out of Comox with Bill Coltart from Pacific Pro Dive, to the deep wreck of the MV Gulf Stream. The wreck went down in 1947 after hitting Dinner Rock. This technical wreck dive starts in about 110 feet of water and when the visibility is good, like it was for us (over 70 feet), the wreckage can easily be seen from the descent line, on a buoy marking the location.

Divers usually like to go check out the wreck, varying their depth to their skill level, and check out the ship’s resident cloud sponge, lingcod and several species of rockfish. Once finished, you can head up the slope for a real treat of marine critters. If recreational divers are along on the trip, they can spend their dive mainly on this slope. More crimson anemones and giant swimming nudibranchs can be seen on a sandy, gravely terrain. Large white plumose anemones are perched on most protruding rocks like sentries. Many of the red algae covered boulders are covered with small tunicates and a few even have abalone on them!

When my husband Wayne Grant and I were diving with Bill, we found a huge female lingcod on the slope. We assumed it was a female because of its size and attitude! The immense fish didn’t budge when Wayne moved closer. As she raised her massive body up for a quick

escape if needed, I thought she might charge him! Wayne can be a bit mischievous at times: he once reached out and touched the tail of a six-gill shark! But this fish was not one to be messed with and eventually swam off very slowly, still keeping an eye on Wayne.

Bill commonly frequents several wrecks in the area, including another of my favorites, the SS Capilano, sinking in 1915. The ship rests upright in 90 feet of water on the south side of Grant Reef. During these excursions to the Powell River side, Bill usually stops in Lund for lunch between dives.
The upper Sunshine Coast and Powell River can be reached via Highway 101, accessed on a ferry out of Horseshoe Bay in BC, to Langdale. Driving north through Sechelt to catch another ferry at Earls Cove to Saltery Bay. The town of Powell River is located another 22 miles (34km) north. If you are on Vancouver Island, Powell River can be reached by taking the ferry from Comox to downtown Powell River.

So if you have not visited Powell River yet or in a while, be sure to add it to your dive schedule for a fun shore or boat dive. An FYI for you; During one of my many trips to this area, I was boat diving on a charter near Texada Island at the cloud sponge gardens. It was a bright sunny day with excellent visibility and I remember turning off my strobes for a shot of descending divers with fish, anemones and sponges in the emerald-green background. Some of you have already seen this image, on the cover of 151 Dives.■

Travel Information:
Dive Industry Association of British Columbia
www.diveindustrybc.com
Tourism Powell River
www.discoverpowellriver.com
1-604-485-4000
BC Ferries
www.bcferries.com
1-888-BC FERRY (223-3779)
Alpha Dive and Kayak
www.divepowellriver.com
1-604-485-6939
Pacific Pro Dive
www.scubashark.com
1-877-800-DIVE or 250-338-6829